Difference between revisions of "673: The Sun"

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}} and includes puns about {{w|daylight saving time}}. It reads like a {{w|movie trailer}}.
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This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}}, especially the film "{{w|Sunshine (2007 film)|Sunshine}}," a 2007 British science fiction disaster film about a group of astronauts sent to reignite a dying Sun with a nuclear bomb and full of {{w|Sunshine (2007 film)#Writing and scientific inaccuracy|questionable science}}, and includes puns about {{w|daylight saving time}}, the practice of advancing clocks during the summer so that evenings have more daylight, and mornings less. It reads like a {{w|movie trailer}}.
  
"{{w|The Core}}" is a 2003 American science fiction disaster movie, concerning a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core.
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The movie described by the comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (which is analogous to sending an ant to the US Senate to break a budget deadlock). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.
  
{{w|Daylight saving time}} (or "summer time" in Europe and elsewhere) is the practice of advancing clocks during the summer so that evenings have more daylight, and mornings less.
+
The final panel gives the movie's name and subtitle. "Daylight Saving Time" refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, {{w|Spring_forward,_fall_back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.
  
The movie described by the comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. The solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (and this is even more nonsensical from a scientific perspective). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual nighttime.
+
The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.
  
The final panel gives the movie's name and subtitle. "Daylight Saving Time" refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, {{w|Spring_forward,_fall_back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat in battle.
+
The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliche of the "obligatory bad guy". There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, punning again on Daylight Saving(s) Time.
 
 
The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average.
 
 
 
The movie "{{w|The Core}}" shares similar issues as those illustrated in this comic, particularly the {{w|The_core#Critical_reaction|questionable science involved}}.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
 
:Coming this March from the makers of The Core...
 
:Coming this March from the makers of The Core...
:[A woman is looking through a telescope in an observatory. Two men are nearby.]
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:[Ponytail is looking through a telescope in an observatory. Two men are nearby.]
:Woman: The sun's fusion is failing!
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:Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!
:Man 1: Does that make sense?
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:Cueball: Does that make sense?
:Man 2: Whatever.
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:Friend: Whatever.
  
:Woman: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely!
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:Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely!
:Man 1: Call NASA!
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:Cueball: Call NASA!
:Man 2: (on the phone) Assemble our hottest astronauts.
+
:Friend: (on the phone) Assemble our hottest astronauts.
  
 
:[Four astronauts stand at the other end of the phone. The one holding the handset has the helmet of a space suit under his arm.]
 
:[Four astronauts stand at the other end of the phone. The one holding the handset has the helmet of a space suit under his arm.]

Revision as of 01:18, 12 December 2014

The Sun
Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.
Title text: Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.

Explanation

This comic makes fun of science fiction disaster movies, especially the film "Sunshine," a 2007 British science fiction disaster film about a group of astronauts sent to reignite a dying Sun with a nuclear bomb and full of questionable science, and includes puns about daylight saving time, the practice of advancing clocks during the summer so that evenings have more daylight, and mornings less. It reads like a movie trailer.

The movie described by the comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". The sun's energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (which is analogous to sending an ant to the US Senate to break a budget deadlock). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.

The final panel gives the movie's name and subtitle. "Daylight Saving Time" refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the mnemonic used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, "spring forward, fall back" to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.

The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of NASA's "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.

The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliche of the "obligatory bad guy". There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, punning again on Daylight Saving(s) Time.

Transcript

Coming this March from the makers of The Core...
[Ponytail is looking through a telescope in an observatory. Two men are nearby.]
Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!
Cueball: Does that make sense?
Friend: Whatever.
Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely!
Cueball: Call NASA!
Friend: (on the phone) Assemble our hottest astronauts.
[Four astronauts stand at the other end of the phone. The one holding the handset has the helmet of a space suit under his arm.]
Astronaut: The earth bathed in eternal darkness? A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!
Astronaut: Saddle up.
[The four astronauts are shown in silhouette on gray, casting huge shadows towards the bottom of the panel from the sun in the center.]
It's DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME.
Never fall back.


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Discussion

Interesting (or deliberate?) that there's no reference at all in the explanation to Sunshine, released two years previously. 178.99.247.73 21:07, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

  • I just want to know if Randall knew the film Sunshine existed when he made the comic.

Can't "to spring" be thought of as a physical movement? 108.162.212.196 00:49, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes; that's why the mnemonic works. Zowayix (talk) 16:08, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
Also, the mnemonic works because physically it is relatively easier to spring (i.e., jump) forward and to fall (through the simple action of gravity, without being able to catch yourself with your arms) back(ward) than it is to do the reverse. --BD (talk) 01:09, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
the fusion reactions are well understood

By whom?

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 22:12, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Okay, I'm too lazy to figure out a rewrite, but honestly...it seems pretty durned obvious that it's making fun of "The Core" which is actually mentioned in the comic, not making fun of some random British film not mentioned. Also look at the movie poster for "The Core" on Wikipedia; the similarities to the last panel with the group of people and the silhouettes is pretty obvious. 108.162.215.150 23:11, 12 April 2015 (UTC)MW

I think "not on my watch" is being used as another pun, as daylight savings would not happen on your watch if you couldn't adjust it. 173.245.52.127 12:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)


It's not incorrect to say that this comic makes fun of science fiction disaster movies, but that's not right place to start. The comic is really about the fact that there are two ways to interpret the term "daylight saving time", and one of those ways sounds like the over-adrenalized style that one sees in action movie posters. That's the central joke, and the mockery of science fiction disaster movies is there in order to make that joke funny

The statement that "Even in the nearly impossible event of the sun's fusion is failing in the traditional sense, the sun would collapse causing a supernova." is incorrect as the Sun does not have enough mass to fuel a supernova. IIRC it's mass would have to be about 40% higher for that to happen

Removed it. 162.158.238.236 02:29, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Is the second Cueball in panel one dismissing Ponytail's warning, or dismissing the other Cueball's question of whether it makes sense? I took it as a joke on people dismissing such criticism of such disaster movies by pointing out they are just an excuse for two hours of pretty people and special effects, and aren't supposed to be thought about. 162.158.79.16 15:38, 17 March 2022 (UTC)


How are we sure there are two ponytails in this comic? It could be the same character. After all they will need someone competent on their team. 162.158.103.172 18:04, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

There's no sign that the common illustrative (and filmic) convention has been broken, of NASA-calling Cueball being in direct communication with helmet-carrying Cueball across the 'jump-cut' between the two frames/scenes. For original Ponytail to have had time to be in both scenes presupposes a whole omitted period of time (ok, so not rare in film trailers, which reassemble the storyline how they see fit) but, more than that, it makes nonsense of the helmet-Cueball seeming to learn of the group's instructions by phone when Ponytail (of the initial scene) seems to be already both knowledgable and authoritative enough to have briefed the team upon her arrival (at whatever point in the intervening time that was).
...you'd need to assume some big "but is the threat really real?" plotpoint where Ponytail (initial version) and her staff have primed NASA but some beaurocratic process then had to have been seen (in the full movie) in which Ponytail (and perhaps even one of 'her' Cueballs, because... expendible sidekick?) rock up to NASA, get them to at least prepare for the mission, all the while awaiting the go/no-go direct from the person in charge (NASA boss/POTUS/whatever), at which point the explicit confirmation comes through and is rhetorically relayed to a team who know exactly what it is they'll be doing (if it turns out they're doing anything) and just need an "It's a Go, guys!"
Not that some dialogue/screenplay isn't as bad as the backformed trailer-cut version forces us to assume (nor that some trailers don't horribly Lie with misplaced or even unused film-footage that sort of makes its own sense, if you don't notice the same character present in both scenes). But I prefer to think that Astronomer-Ponytail is perhaps NASA-Ponytail's twin sister. Making it even more dramatic that, in order to save the world from <whatever>, the former has to put her super-sibling as directly into harm's way as any practical and observational person can, even given the latter's obvious tendency to a more risk-taking profession (but probably still topped the intelligence tests).
...yet that's just my own headcanon. 172.71.178.64 00:05, 26 January 2023 (UTC)